Kent Conrad: “I want to emphasize that it is critically important that we succeed in this endeavor. Make no mistake about it, we are…”

“I want to emphasize that it is critically important that we succeed in this endeavor. Make no mistake about it, we are on a fiscal course that cannot be sustained. As I have said repeatedly to my colleagues on the Budget Committee and on the floor of this Chamber, it is true that we have seen a substantial reduction in the budget deficit, and that is certainly good news. Without question, this chart shows what happened to the unified Federal budget deficit as a percentage of the economy from 1980 to 1996. Back in 1980, the deficit was about 3 percent of our economy, about 3 percent of gross domestic product. It then shot up to 6.3 percent in the early 1980's, worked its way back down in 1990, when it was back down to around 3 percent, and then it jumped up again to nearly 5 percent. During the tenure of Bill Clinton as President of the United States, the deficit has come down 4 years in a row. We are now down to a deficit that is less than 2 percent of our gross domestic product. That is the lowest deficit as measured against the size of the economy of any industrialized country in the world. So we have made great progress. But no one should be under any illusion. While we have made significant progress, if we do not keep working, if we do not keep putting on the pressure of deficit reduction, all of these gains are going to be lost as we start to move toward the time that the baby boom generation retires.”